Prominate Men

     It is a source of deep regret that no reliable record can be ob-
tained of such prominent men in the past history of Danville, as
Rev. John B. Patterson, Doctor Alexander C. Donaldson,
Rudolph Sechler, William G. Hurley, and many others.  Moreover,
what record we have of others is meager and unsatisfactory.  From  
other sources, the following brief notes are presented:

     ALEM MARR graduated at Princeton in 1807, and was admitted
to the bar in 1809.  He represented this district in Congress from
1829 to 1831, and spent his whole professional life in Danville.

     SAMUEL KIRKHAM, the grammarian, succeeded D. C. Barrett in
the Danville school, about 1819 to 1821.  He was a competent 
teacher, but not so successful as Mr. Barrett.  His "Lectures on
English Grammar" was one of the most popular school-books of
the day, and almost as generally used as Webster's spelling-book.
 It went through one hundred and twenty-nine editions.  His
"Essay on Elocution" was a valuable treatise, but never attained
a tithe of the popularity of his grammer.  President Lincoln ob-
tained his grammatical knowledge from the latter treatise, and there
is yet in the hands of one of his admirers in Iowa, the identical
volume in which the great emancipator studied.  His signature is
on a fly-leaf, with the homely cautions, "Steal not this book, & c."

     DR. DAVID PETRIKIN was a native of Bellefonte.  He studied
medicine and practiced his profession in Danville.  He represented
this district in Congress two terms, from 1837 to 1841, and died on
the 3d of January, 1949.

   DANIEL FRAZER was born Mary 2, 1755, and married Sarah Wil-
son in 1772.  She died in 1775.  He was again married.  His
second wife was Isabella Watson, whom he married on the 6th day
of February, 1777.  He died in Danville on the 26th of March, 
1828.	His children were Charles, Emma, Margaret, James, Alex-
ander, Sarah, Jane, William, Christiana M., Agnes, Daniel, and
Thomas; all of whom are dead, except Christiana, who married
Enos Miller, who died in 1870.  All deceased except Mrs. Miller.
His descendants reside in Montour county, New York, and Michigan.
gan.  He came to this place about 1790, and purchased of John Frazer
one hundred acres of land in the south-west part of his two hundred
and eighty-four acre tract.  On this land he resided thirty-eight
years, until his death, in the seventy-third year of his age.  He was
an honest and industrious farmer, enjoying the respect and con-
fidence of his fellow-citizens.  For a long time he resided at the
base of the hill, near the site of an old Indian trading post, and a
very short distance north of the spring.  In 1824, he built the
substantial stone residence which is still standing.  All the southern
portion of his farm is now within the corporate limits of Danville.

     ELLIS HUGHES came to this place from Catawissa, about 1820.
He was a school teacher and surveyor.  He was also appointed reg-
ister and recorder by the Governor, and served with great satisfaction
to the people.  He taught school for some years in a school-house
that stood near where the Record office now stands.  He was a good
teacher, and was universally respected by the community.  He also 
took care to see that his children were all well educated.  Ellis
Hughes was a faithful member and an efficient officer in the Meth-
odist church, and died in the faith of the christian, in the year 1850.
      DANIEL MONTGOMERY, a brother to Gen. William Montgomery,
lived in the old frame house now occupied by Mr. Bentzbach, near
the river.  He kept a store, but was chiefly known as a painter--- in
fact, an artist of no mean pretensions.  He was the father of Judge
Montgomery.

     WILLIAM HARTMAN was one of the old-time citizens of Danville.
He was a chairmaker, and resided on the premises now occupied by
his son, Joseph Hartman, on Mill street.  William Hartman came 
to Danville in 1814.  He was a class-leader in the Methodist church,
and was one of the six members formed into the first class in this
place n 1815.  He was an honest, industrious citizen, and a true
christian.  He died in 1851.

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